In my 40s with $8 million and young kids — should I delay early retirement to afford private school tuition?

A Reddit user is facing a major dilemma. The poster was hoping to retire rich at 5o, and they are well on their way as they have a $7 to $8 million nest egg in their early 40s. However, their children are academically gifted. They are also motivated to attend a private school that could provide them with a better education than the public schools available to them, which are decent but not great. 

The issue: the schools cost $50,000 per year, so sending both kids would come at a cost of an estimated $1 million over the coming 10 to 12 years. As a result of this spending, the Reddit poster’s planned early retirement would be delayed by around three to four years.

The question is whether they should do it, especially when the parents themselves were products of a similar environment and worry about the stress it places on their kids. 

Should the Redditor delay early retirement to provide for their children?

Ultimately, there is no one right answer to what the poster should do this situation. Talking to a financial advisor could be helpful, as the advisor could offer more insight into the specific impact the private school tuition might have on their retirement goals. 

Still, ultimately it comes down to an issue of competing priorities: Does the poster place a greater value on leaving work three or four years early, or does the poster place a greater value on letting their kids attend the private school they’ve asked for, which could provide them with better resources and help set them on the path to their own financial success. 

While the answer to this will be a personal choice, the fact remains that the poster is quite successful, with a net worth that’s well above the median in their 40s. They admit they were able to achieve this great success because they took the private school to elite college path and they said their kids are self-motivated to succeed in this type of environment. 

Since they can obviously afford the investment and retiring at 53 or 54 would still be a pretty early retirement, denying their kids this opportunity may be something they come to regret — especially if their own children don’t end up as successful as they did after coming out of inferior schools. 

Think about the big picture when making any financial choices

The fact is, though, that everyone needs to make financial choices and there are always tradeoffs when it comes to deciding what to prioritize. When making these difficult decisions, it’s best to think about the long-term big picture and decide what’s going to both provide the best returns and improve your life the most. 

For this Reddit poster, that may turn out to be putting off their own retirement dreams for a little extra time to give their kids their chance to build their own financial success in an increasingly competitive world.